Anakin Skywalker’s Modified Jedi Starfighter - TCW [B] - Vehicles

Anakin is constantly looking for ways to enhance the performance of his vehicles. He improves the operation of his starfighter by boosting the engine power and adding a vectored thruster, laser cannons and a proton torpedo launcher. Finally, he adds a forward-mounted hyperdrive which enables him to travel through hyperspace.

Hasbro was very forthcoming with collectors that they were going to “pad” The Clone Wars line with some closely related “Clone Wars” products, even if they weren’t specific to the new film (during the summer of 2008) and television series that made it’s debut in the Fall later that year. Hasbro dug deep into their vault and added some great Tartakovsky inspired products (and even other Star Wars Expanded Universe sources made some cameo appearances as well). The 2008 TLC Saga Legends line in particular was peppered with figures like Yoda & Kybuck and a plethora of clones that we thought we’d never see make it into a main basic figure line again.... but did. Perhaps Hasbro didn’t plan that well for The Clone Wars line, but they’ve been playing catch-up with the line ever since its inception. And it seems as if they’ll never be able to get steer this ride back on the road. It’s not that they’re not doing a great job, because they are. But let’s face it. Filoni’s The Clone Wars series is sensory overload and there is not good place to start, save for the beginning. And as we can all see, their focus has really been The Clone Wars film. When it’s not The Clone Wars film, it’s other “closely related” products based on the Clone Wars in general. And one vehicle that they couldn’t wait to reissue was Anakin Skywalker’s Modified Jedi Starfighter.

Seen multiple times in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars Volume 1, Anakin Skywalker’s Modified Jedi Starfighter (nicknamed the Azure Angel) is a customized Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor starfighter. It was personally modified and subsequently piloted by the Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker during the beginning of the Clone Wars. It was quickly replaced for bigger and better vehicles. The paint job was directly inspired by the look of his Podracer when he was only a boy on Tatooine (as seen in Episode I). This unique paint job was then applied to the Blade of Dorin, a Jedi starfighter gifted to Plo Koon during the Malevolence story arc in Filoni’s The Clone Wars. (See how it is interestingly tied into The Clone Wars?!) After sustaining multiple battles, the Azure Angel ended up getting destroyed by Asajj Ventress right after Anakin Skywalker landed it on Yavin IV to confront her in that epic lightsaber duel. (Man, do we miss Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars!) The destruction of his starfighter was meant to be because updated models awaited him upon his return from Yavin IV. We personally think the Azure Angel looks a little clumsy. The large “podracer-esque” front thrusters look like they would be more of a burden rather than something to streamline the vehicles speed. Then again, we didn’t build these starfighters so what do we know?

Hasbro actually repainted Anakin’s Modified Jedi Starfighter for The Clone Wars line. The paint differences are hard to see unless you are comparing them side by side. But from what we can see, the final “dirty” wash is much more pronounced on the 2008 rerelease and the colors of the blue plastic is drastically different. It actually doesn’t have an evenly smooth “one color” look like the original 2003 release. So we think Hasbro took a few steps back with the 2008 version. The vehicle certainly possesses and outdated feel. Aside from the opening cockpit, there aren’t too many other usable (or impressive features) especially when compared to the other more modern Jedi starfighters released in the same line. At best we would have to consider this vehicle “filler” (or something like that) for The Clone Wars line. When you turn the astromech droid’s head (this droid is R4-P22 for the droid-obsessed), it fires a clear green projectile (called a proton torpedo here) and it’s an action feature that still works very well. The four cannons on the top and the bottom of the vehicle dress it up nicely, but if bumped they fly off very easily. Two lower wings are hinge-jointed and can “lock” into a flying position. It looks pretty awesome. But the black wings on the edge of the vehicle and its fin just look plain silly. It was great for 2003, but it’s sadly aged not too well. This isn’t a necessary purchase, but if you want a slightly revised paint job, you have to get this one too.